Brick targets unpaid court fines

BRICK – Township officials have a message for people who owe court fines: Pay up.

The Township Council voted Tuesday night to hire New York-based Pioneer Credit, a collection agency, to try to recoup more than $650,000 in outstanding municipal court fines. The seven-member council selected Pioneer over three other bidders.

“As part of the transitional team, this was something that we looked at,’’ said Mayor John Ducey, a Democrat who took office in January. “This is lost revenue that we should be collecting.’’

For more than three decades, Pioneer has been a part of the debt collection industry. The company has helped return more than $6 billion to clients at all levels of government in the past 10 years, according to its website. Pioneer handles the contract for the state’s tax delinquency program, said Ken Hanaway, a representative of the company. It also provides services to more than 200 county, city, and other local governments throughout the country, according to the website.

“For example, if there is an outstanding fine of $100 owed, the company has to by law get the town $100, anything they collect, up to 22 percent, above the actual fine is what they get paid,’’ Ducey said. “This was a no-brainer since there is so much money sitting there and absolutely no cost to the town.’’

Council President Susan Lydecker agreed.

“A fee will be added to the fine by the contractor,’’ Lydecker said. “We don’t pay anything.”

Last year, the township collected more than $864,200 in court fees. This year, township officials anticipate taking in $800,000 in court revenue, according to Brick’s budget.

“The municipal budget for 2014 was developed with the expectation that the township would proceed with municipal court debt collection services, so the fees generated are part of the anticipated revenue that is included in the budget,’’ said Joanne Bergin, township administrator. “Any revenue generated above the amount anticipated will go into surplus.”

Four years ago, state legislators approved the practice of hiring collection agencies to collect fines. Private collection is only available after “all judicial enforcement remedies permitted by law or court rule” have been exhausted, according to state law.

Neighboring Jackson is also looking at recouping a “few hundred thousand dollars’’ in unpaid court fines, said Robert Nixon, Township Council president. The township is exploring the idea of hiring a collection service to help recovery the fines.

“It’s our money, it’s fines that belong to the township of Jackson that have not been collected and it’s silly to leave on the table and now that we’re in a position where there are other municipalities that are doing it, it’s a very clean process,’’ Nixon said. “We’ll never get back all of the money that’s owed to us but if we can get back $50,000 or $100,000 that’s a way for us to control our costs, lower taxes, and do the things people want us to do.”

Staff writer Brett Bodner contributed to this report

Nicholas Huba: 732-557-5617; nhuba@app.com

IF YOU GO

The Brick Township Council is scheduled to meet June 24 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 401 Chambers Bridge Road